Myriam Obin

Jury member Brain Foss summarized the jury’s decision: The jury found Myriam Obin’s short animated film, Éloise, petite rêveuse / little dreamer, to be a mature and thoughtful meditation on the theme of political engagement and activism. The film relies on a relatively naïve approach (seeing adult events through the eyes of a little girl), but never treats its child protagonist in a condescending way. The film is also visually sophisticated, with several dramatically effective visual transformations and puns that reinforce the complexity of the events that Éloise is observing and that she is attempting to understand. As a result of these mutually reinforcing qualities, the film held the attention of the jury members as it unfolded its subtle but powerful narrative of the convoluted, fraught, and sometimes self-contradictory processes that underscored path toward freedom.